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The Netherlands clinched third place in the Hockey World Cup 2023 by beating Australia 3-1 in the playoff for the second runners-up spot, on Sunday, 29 January.
The Dutch team didn't have a great first half and conceded a 1-0 lead. However, they came back strong and powered by a brilliant performance from their captain Thierry Brinkman, left Australia behind. Their brilliant defending also played a large part in sealing the win.
Australia look strong in first half
The match got off to a feisty start as both teams wrestled hard for possession. This meant a lot of turnovers and not enough fluency in play. Things started to settle down a bit as the first quarter moved on and Australia began to get some structure and link-up play going for them.
This led to a penalty corner for Australia in the 13th minute. Jeremy Hayward did his job perfectly from the near castle as he scored the first goal of the match. Australia managed one more PC in the first quarter but it didn’t yield any success.
The second quarter saw a continuation of Australia’s fluent play as their attackers and midfielders found a way through the midfield and defense of the Netherlands. However, they weren’t able to get enough good shots on goal.
Netherlands, meanwhile, did get a PC of their own in the second quarter, but to no avail. The problem for the Dutch team was their attacks weren’t clinical enough. There were too many long balls into the circle, delivered more with hope rather than precision.
Superb comeback by the Netherlands leaves Australia without answer
The Dutch team improved markedly in the second half and dominated the third quarter. They managed to equalize through a penalty corner with their drag-flicker Jip Janssen scoring a goal in the 33rd minute.
Just around two minutes later, the Netherlands’ captain Thierry Brinkman put his team ahead. The goal came about due to a terrible mistake by Australia’s Tim Howard. After an attack by the Dutch team, Howard got hold of the ball in the circle and could have easily cleared it. However, Howard pushed the ball into the flat stick of Jorrit Croon and the deflection was jumped on to by Brinkman as his smashed the ball into the goal.
Brinkman was now in full flow and enjoyed a brilliant period in the remainder of the third quarter. He scored his second goal in the 40th minute.
The third Dutch goal came about through some brilliant teamwork. A lofted long ball from deep in the Dutch half, down the left field, was well collected by Thijs van Dam and he rushed into the circle, dodging one defender. He then gave a cross towards the front of the goal where Tjep Hoedemakers was present. However, the ball got deflected and reached Brinkman at the far post where he tapped it in.
On a hat-trick, Brinkman made some good and threatening runs after the third goal also. However, the score remained 3-1 with a quarter remaining.
The last 15 minutes witnessed Australia trying hard for a goal. They were helped by the fact that van Dam got a yellow card in the 52nd minute, for a 10-minute suspension.
However, the Dutch were impeccable with their marking inside the circle and Australian attackers found absolutely no space there. In fact, most of the time, they even struggled to get the ball inside the ‘D’.
Australia pulled their goalkeeper with around six minutes remaining to increase their field player advantage. But the impenetrable Dutch defense didn’t break. The Australians did manage to earn a couple of penalty corners towards the end but Lars Balk’s fearless no. 1 running nullified those chances.
The Netherlands held on for the lead. They very nearly scored a fourth goal but a slide from one of their players into the goalkeeper led to a foul being called by the video umpire and the goal annulled.
With this win, the Netherlands sealed the bronze medal. Their captain Brinkman deservedly won the Player of the Match award. Australia, runners-up at the Olympics and bronze-medal winners in the last edition of the World Cup, have much to look at in terms of their performance.
